New cross-border development residents may have to pay ACT-level rates

Talking points

A planning proposal for the Ginninderry development expects NSW-side Parkwood residents to pay ACT-level rates.

Police hope to establish a "legal buffer zone" in Parkwood where ACT law can be enforced.

Residents, Yass Valley Council and ACT government officials would at first liaise with a single "place manager" in charge of service delivery.

Residents of the NSW side of the cross-border Ginninderry development would be expected to pay ACT-level rates, according to a planning proposal.

Plans for Parkwood, the name of the NSW side of the development, opened to public consultation on Monday 25.

The framework for Parkwood, the NSW-side development of the cross-border Ginninderry project west of Belconnen.

Across both borders, Ginninderry is expected to bring 11,500 new homes to Canberra's west, with 5000 of those homes planned for Parkwood.

The ACT government has said it would want to move the border to encompass Parkwood but this is a complicated process.

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Parkwood will encompass 600 hectares in NSW, with 394 hectares set aside for urban development and the remaining 206 hectares set aside for conservation.

The proposal has been put together by Riverview, a joint venture between the ACT government and developers to oversee the Ginninderry development.

Documents released as part of the consultation phase show Yass Valley Council will expect to collect ACT-level rates from Parkwood residents to pay for ACT government-provided services.

It follows announcements that Parkwood homeowners would also be charged $100 a year to go towards a conservation trust to help an environmental corridor in the middle of Ginninderry.

A framework in the proposal documents showing the lots on both sides of the Ginninderry development.

The NSW government would potentially provide a prep-to-year-12 public school, with the ACT side expected to have a prep-to-year-10 public school and two independent schools.

If NSW doesn't deliver on the school, then Parkwood residents could access ACT schools. The proposal suggests this arrangement should be finalised by next year.

Most services will be contracted out by the Yass council to the ACT government, including fire and ambulance services.

"The proposal that the ACT Government be contracted to provide most local government services was considered practicable and the proposed financial arrangements feasible in principle, based on rating income aligned with ACT rather than Yass Valley rates," the proposal reads.

A report included in the documents recommends the ACT and NSW government implement a special legal "buffer zone", allowing ACT Policing to uphold ACT law in Parkwood.

Police told a cross-agency forum that the buffer zone was the best of three other proposed policing methods, as it "provides the most certainty with clear operating principles".

Parkwood residents would still only be able to vote in Yass Valley Council and NSW state elections under the plan, and development applications would be assessed and determined by the council.

The development would establish a "place manager" which would act as a single point of contact for Parkwood residents, the Yass council and the ACT government.

The manager would be based in Yass Valley Council and would monitor upkeep and service delivery at Parkwood.

But this would eventually expand into a community committee as Parkwood grew, with a Yass councillor - "possibly the Mayor to start with" - to chair the group.

The ACT's water company, Icon Water, would provide water in bulk to Yass, meaning the council would charge for water.

Parkwood's drinking water would likely come from Googong Dam, but the planning proposal said there would need to be a resolution on whether the supply would affect the capital's or NSW's agreements under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

"Water supply in the ACT and immediate surrounds is complex and potentially a constraint on development in the region," the proposal reads.